REVIEW CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS PAGE

One of the night’s most popular dishes involved oversized pork meatballs with salted duck egg yolk cores. The yolk was intensely salty and gritty, but worked pretty well with the juicy pork and spinach.

Cuts of young luffa (green sponge) with crab roe were firm and meaty like a squash. Apparently older luffa becomes more bitter.

Several people at the table were mocking the “inauthentic” BBQ pork spare ribs, but that didn’t stop them from devouring the sweet, bony nubs. I personally found the meat too fatty and one-note.

The bottle of 2001 Rioja Viña Saturna had pretty good balance and a nice mineral tang that played well against the night’s showcase dish: the pork pump.

The piece de resistance, the pork pump, was speared with a knife and served in brown sauce with spinach. This was probably the driest pump I’ve eaten, but even dry pork shank is still fairly satisfying.

The shank is normally shrouded in at least an inch of hog fat, which keeps the meat moist. Not in this case. The sauce formed a nice crust on the outside, but the interior was dry.

More hardcore wine aficionados at the table were raving about the bottle of 1995 Vega Sicilia Unico. It was clearly a good wine, with a tiny bit of spice that heightened the flavor of the pork, and vice versa.

Xiao Long Bao – Shanghai-style steamed pork dumplings – were served with a dish of vinegar and ginger, which is designed to cut the richness of the pork meat and juice. The skins were too thick, but the pure pork flavor was good.

It was a simple dish, but I really enjoyed the sautéed bamboo shoots with celery.

Rice cakes with pork and minced greens were clean-tasting, and the cakes had good bite to them, but I prefer other versions in the SGV that stir-fry their cakes with soy sauce, which adds a smoky flavor and some caramelization.

Balls of rice cake filled with gritty sesame arrived swimming in rice wine with strands of egg, rice, and jujubes (date’s red cousin). The massive bowl was showered with osmanthus, which added a floral aroma and flavor. Several people at the table were already familiar with this dish, and I’m glad they introduced it to me.

At this point, I was pretty well satisfied, but the FoodDigger founders decided to uncork one last wine. Not only didn’t the 2002 Volnay Burgundy fit with the Spanish theme, it left a bad taste in my mouth due to the extreme tannins.

To conclude the meal, one of the FoodDigger organizers said their site is dedicated to building a network of passionate foodies, and “We’re really about connecting people with similar tastes.” On this night, not every dish was great, but Giang Nan left an overall good impression, and it was fun to share dinner (and wines) with other people who take food so seriously.